


Rose by any other name

by lover_of_blue_roses



Series: Jimercury Week 2020&21 [8]
Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: Beauty and the Beast AU, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, So much hand touching pride and prejudice would call it XXX, fairytale AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:14:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29079933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lover_of_blue_roses/pseuds/lover_of_blue_roses
Summary: While lost in the forest Jim comes across the most beautiful of roses but when he picks it, he becomes trapped by the curse that also holds a beast captive.
Relationships: Jim Hutton/Freddie Mercury
Series: Jimercury Week 2020&21 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622485
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: JimercuryWeek2021





	Rose by any other name

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Beauty and the Beast AU  
> if you liked my persephone au basically im back on my bullshit

Jim wanders aimlessly. With the path hidden under the snow's fall, and his horse spooked, he has no idea where to go. He can only wander through the cold winter landscape in hope of anything, shelter hopefully but maybe even people if he's lucky.

He makes it up a ridge that deposits him into a leveled out valley. He wonders if here too they would find Roman mosaic under the soil of a time long since. But far more distracting than any housing that might have been, is what is growing and bloom. Lenten roses also known as Christmas roses because they flower in these times. He's a gardener by trade, and he doesn't know the last time he's seen some such a lovely color. They are clearly neglected, left to fend for themselves, but their color is simply the most striking shade of purple so dark they would appear black if not for the white snow backdrop.

Jim doesn't have anything, not even proper gloves, but he's determined to dig out a sprout of it. With that this trip, for all that he is still stranded and cold, will not have been a waste. The snow is deep, he knows this well enough from how his legs sink into it, but not so much so that he cannot manage. The bigger problem is the cold, frozen ground, that he does not even have a spade or knife to dig free.

He sighs, it would have been too easy. Still, he can hope to graft it like an apple tree and possibly recreate this hidden away beauty. Lenten roses aren't traditional roses with such large thorns, and his fingerless gloves do at least cover his palm, but still, he is careful not to prick himself. As soon as he snaps its stem at the base the ground shakes and trembling. He loses his footing and falls to his knees in the snow. 

There is a loud, deep scream, followed by a far more piercing one. Jim looks around to see a beast racing towards him. It is a creature of shadow and smoke, enveloped in darkness that swallows the light off the snow. Jim tries to back up, but only sinks in the snow as it hinders his movements. In a moment the beast is in front of him, rearing on its hind legs and spreading its arms out like a bat with darkness webbing under them.

"What have you done! Thief! Thief! Now you too shall be cursed!" The creature threats. As it opens its mouth to scream at Jim, it reveals a maw filled with sharp teeth and fangs seemingly too large for its face. They appear all the more white for the darkness and shadows of the beast.

"No, no, I'm so sorry, I didn't know they were claimed. I thought them wild." Jim tells himself he should have known better, should have known something so beautiful in the middle of something so desolate but unnatural and man-made was cursed or at the very least magical.

"You stole my rose," the beast continues although less angry, it has the voice of a man, and Jim wonders what dark magic it must have commanded to be so transformed. 

"I'm sorry I snapped it, but I might be able to graft it back. I was trying to dig it out but the ground was too hard."

"You were... trying to dig it out?"

Maybe Jim shouldn't have said he intended on stealing more than the bloom but a whole part of the plant itself. "I'm a gardener you see," Jim tries to distract him, "And I thought the color so lovely, I've never seen anything like it, but that's also why I can help it mend again."

"A gardener..."

Jim nods, hoping the beast will let him go.

The beast sighs, the shadows collapsing into the snow as though draining the world of its color as the area around it turns grey. "It does not matter the curse will take you too."

"What?!" He can't believe this creature would still dare to take him after Jim explained himself so. "Fuck you! I didn't know. It could have been wild. There's nothing else here. Not even fucking footprints!" Jim shoves at the creature. For all that the beast left no footprints on the snow, it was as heavy as a man.

The beast however does not fight back, not even baring its teeth. And Jim realizes what he is touching. Through the shadows and darkness, he feels only a man under his hands. Not of magic like he had assumed but made from it, cursed seemingly. This was no beast, or at least they had not been born as one. Jim releases him as the shock must be clear on his expression. 

"I understand, really I do. But there's nothing I can do for you. Even if you reattach the bloom."

Jim looks down at the flower in his hand, he has tightened his grip around in the conflict and its small thorns have dug into his exposed fingers. He slowly relaxes his grip but not enough for it to fall, his hands have grown so cold and his fingers so numb, he did not even feel it.

"Do you- Do you have shelter? Somewhere warm?"

The beast tilts his head and looks behind him. Jim, as he is now part of the curse, sees. It must have been a gorgeous estate, maybe even large enough to classify as a palace. Four or five stores buried partly in the snow and countless windows although they appeared boarded up and darkened. Even the stone facade looks cold and unwelcoming. The curse must be strong to make such a place vanish and even now manage to make it look so uninviting. 

But Jim will not be intimated by the curse's magic, squaring his shoulders and wading through the snow as the beast glides along beside him. "I apologize for shoving you, you didn't deserve that."

The beast seems to hunch over, its shadows long and dark. "I have not cast the curse, but I did call it upon myself and deserve far worse I am afraid. I deserve it for my actions." The very idea of what actions could possibly be heinous enough spends a shiver down his spine, but if he is to be stuck here too then he must make peace with the beast regardless. 

When they arrive at the castle's doors, the beast pushes heavily on both doors to slowly pry them one. The beast must not live in the castle, or at least not enter this way. Once the doors are open, they tumble in with the snow, spilling out in the foyer. "I'm- I'm not used to having guests." The beast looks critically at the snow that has entered with them and now makes it impossible to close the door behind them. 

"That's alright. Do you- have a shovel?"

The beast nods, "And I can show you to it," he makes as if to walk off but then stops, turning to look at Jim. The creature's eyes might have once been a warm brown but they were now drowned in shadows, the only thing Jim could see was its large white fangs peeking through. "But I think first you would like to rest?"

Jim nods in his turn. It's true, he is exhausted from his trek in the snow and the cold still clings to his bones. 

The beast lights a torch and leads him through the castle. Everything here is dark, with a layer of shadows that cling to things regardless of the light source. And not just darkness, but greyness, as though not just the light but the colors themselves have been stolen. Or perhaps it is grim, Jim does not know how long it has been since this place has been cursed but it seems... dirty. It is not the traditional filth of dirty or rotting, but rather dust and tarnish that coat over every surface. 

The beast slowly opens the door to what must be a bedroom, he has no human expressions Jim can read but his body language... he appears almost shy. Far from the towering beast that confronted him in the garden and loomed over him. So Jim makes a show of being pleased with the room, smilingly easily because he really is pleased. The bed looks perfectly serviceable, as though the curse that keeps all life from this place has also kept the mold and moths away. 

Jim thanks him verbally and the beast turns to leave without a word. Fatigue drags at Jim so he heads to bed, placing the nearly forgotten about the rose by the bedside as he removes his boots and slipes between the covers. It's a small thing to have caused so much trouble, but he can't deny its beauty. It appears far more black without the white of snow to bring out its purple. It will just have to wait until morning to get water though.

He has no nightwear to wear but it doesn't matter, especially if that will only be for this first night. He blows out the candle the beast lit for him, and hopes whatever made this room warm before, will keep it so, even though there is no fire burning in the hearth. Although he is tired, he can't seem to fall asleep, the cold still lingering in his extremities like icey stones pressing against him. Only when he presses his hands and feet to his warmer parts, as much as it may sting, do they warm back up, and only once they have warmed again, does he finally fall asleep. 

His sleep is troubled and restless, and he wakes up with the burning desire to do something. It suits him ill to be idle. He wants nothing more than to draw back the curtains and let in some sunlight because this place, unlike his home, has windows of glass that should allow for such a thing. He has already spent the last month seeing so little sun knowing that the rest of winter would only have in store the same, the idea of having one privilege in this cursed place is tempting. But he remembers what he saw from the outside, that the windows might be boarded, and so decides it is better to first ask the beast.

But as he wanders the castle, he sees no sign of him and his trailing shadows. It is completely empty, not even mice having found shelter here. Despite this when he makes his way to the kitchen and opens the larder it is to find it stocked and stocked well, enough to feed the castle this large should it be fully occupied. Whatever force, part of the curse or part of a counter blessing, keeps the place warm despite there being no fires must also keep them from starving. Jim huffs when he sees the quality of the cuts, not just is there food, but food good enough the Prince that could have lived here. Maybe it is cursed, or maybe it is to taunt the beast for he cannot eat. 

Jim sighs, leaving the delicious sight behind him as he continues his exploration. But he has little interest in a drawing-room, a loom, or a library. He does, however, find a well-stocked cupboard, with anything and everything needed to take care of this building from a mop to a shovel. So he decides to warm himself back up in his clothes though they are meager and shovel the foyer. 

The small snowfall from yesterday has grown into a towering snowdrift with the window through the open door and has brought a terrible chill to this already dark and gloomy place. The exercise will serve to get his blood flowing and keep him warm so he starts shoving, it's not going to get better by itself unless they are literally snowed-in to the ceiling. 

"What are you doing?!" The beast's voice comes booming behind him, giving Jim such a fright he nearly drops his shovel.

He clutches at his chest as he turns around. The beast is no less fearsome in the marrow, just as cloaked in shadows as ever, only his fangs dripping in contrast. But Jim won't be cowed, not if he's to be stuck here too. He just huffs as he gets back to it, "Well I thought I'd knit with this odd single long needle. Oh, it's a shovel? Why can't imagine what I would be doing with that."

"That is- what I meant to say was-" the beast seems to shrink into himself as he almost apologizes, "Why are you shoveling so much? I would not recommend testing the bounds of the curse but I assure you, it would be dangerous for you now to leave this place."

"I know that, I can feel it myself." It's not as terrible as Jim might have imagined, like some demonic dog collar chaining him to the curse and this place. No, instead it feels like an awareness, like standing at the edge of a cliff and feeling the deadly drop so near. "It's to return the rose as soon as it stops snowing."

The beast grumbles and Jim wonders if his object was merely a pretense, an excuse of his thuggish behavior. "The curse- It makes the winter's here especially bad. I'm not sure that it will."

Jim certainly hopes the beast isn't lying in hopes of ensuring Jim is trapped here. If he's desperate for company he's going about making friends all the wrong way. "Then I'll just have to dig out the rest of the brush and bring it inside. But first," Jim asked as he looked over his morning's good work, "Is it safe to eat the food in the larder?"

The beast nods eagerly. "Oh yes, I didn't tell you where the kitchens were last night. I'm not used to having new people here. It's fully stocked you see, the curse can't let me go that easily."

"Well actually I found it easily enough," Jim said as he tried to close the doors now that snow wasn't impeding their passage. 

"Here, let me," and again the beast stood tall and using both of his hands, slowly pushed the doors closed. They looked hard to move, there was probably an oil can in the same closet he found the shovel. "Well if you found it already, then you have my permission to eat if that's what you need although-" The creature looks away and sucks his fangs, hiding them in the shadows of his body. "I would appreciate it if we could eat together," he said in a small voice. 

"That sounds lovely," Jim replies honestly. He's sure to grow lonely too in this dark place. And how long must it have been since the beast has had company? It seems little wonder he is poorly civilized, even if he had manners to start with, time would have worn them away. "What are we having?" The beast just shrugs and gives him this look, a little bug-eyed and desperate. "Can you... do you know how to cook?" 

The beast deflates and sighs miserable, "Not even an egg. Never really had to."

Jim doesn't know if he means magic or simply servants but regardless, "Then it's a good thing I'm here. Just an omelet to start? Wouldn't want anything too complicated at first?"

The beast looks torn, as though he might disagree. Jim wonders if he won't because he doesn't want to offend his new volunteer chief. "Sure," is all he says in the end. Well, Jim isn't going to argue with that. He can maybe him something fancier than a fry up for dinner aways. There's no rush, neither of them are going anywhere. 

The beast doesn't settle himself at the table inside the kitchen, where the kitchen staff would have eaten once, instead he goes and sits in the Lord's dining room. This magician must have been rich and powerful, Jim thinks to himself as he must lug the omelets, plates, glasses, pitch, and bread basket all over there. The beast still doesn't thank him. Oh yes, rich and powerful this one. 

"Your welcome," Jim says pointedly. He's not actually being paid to be this man's servant.

"It's good," is the compliment the best gives him as its terrible fangs rip at the baguette without even cutting him a slice.

"Planning on having all of that for yourself?" Jim asks pointed.

The beast stops his ferocious ripping of it to look up at him, half of the bread still dangling from his maw. "Oh, no." He rips off the uneaten half and hands it out to Jim who easily accepts.

"Your hands-!" the beast exclaims standing up, sending his chair skittering backward even as his hand stays latched on to Jim's. A hand that feels no different than any other man's despite his ghastly appearance.

Jim looks at his hand, as though the black mark of death was upon him. His hand had only just brushed the beast's but then again he got into this mess because he'd only just picked a flower. But there are no unusual shadows clinging to its surface. 

He looks up to the beast still confused. "You're cold." The beast tells him as he scooches his chair to be nearly thigh to thigh with Jim.

"I-Yeah," Jim looks down at his cold hand cradled in the beast's warm one.

"I thought I saw you had gloves to do shoving, dearie?"

'Dearie?' Jim wonders but does not comment on, the endearment... is nice. He's only just arrived here but he can easily imagine the loneliness as the days turn to months to years in this cursed place. The beast's words make him feel... valued. "I did, but I'm afraid they don't do much against so much cold, I didn't expect it, nor expect I'd be exposed to it for so long."

The beast reaches out his other hand to gently take hold of Jim's other hand. He cradles the both of them, rubbing his thumb soothing over them. "I wish I had known, the castle can provide anything like that. Anything but the ability to leave." He takes the two hands cups in his and brings them to his mouth. His maw with those teeth such a stark white against the shadows, more fearsome than any animal Jim knows, sharper than a bear's and more numerous than any wolf's. 

But the beast truly means him no warm, blowing his warm breath onto Jim's chilled extremities, looking up into Jim's eyes. It must just be a trick of the light or the nature of the shifting shadows that make up his body but Jim sees the dark eyes emerge from their shadows to reveal the richest of browns, staring right at him, piercing him to his core. He can feel the heat rushing back into his hands and well possibly his cheeks, the sensation slowly returning in the cold's wake. Like this Jim can feel all the more finally the beast's hands, the coarse hair on the back and the callouses lining the fingers but nowhere else on the palm. If he is the rich man Jim suspects him to be, he wonders where such callouses come from.

They stay like that, just enjoying the calm and the quiet. It is not an awkward silence, just the opposite. They are allowed here, just the two of them far from the world, with nothing to do and nowhere to go. There is no rush, nor shame or deny. They just are. 

Once Jim's hands have warmed fully, the beast slowly releases him. Lingering as though he wishes to treasure the contact. 'He must just be skin starved,' Jim tells himself as he returns his attention to the food. At least the eggs were not prepared merely pan-fried for there is little worse than an egg that has been left to the cold. The omelet however is perfectly average, nothing special or fancy. But the beast gobbles it down greedily, as eager to eat is as he is to praise Jim.

'Just because he wants you to keep cooking for him,' Jim tells himself but does not believe. 

That afternoon, after the washing up for which the beast watches but does not help, Jim goes to get the shovel again only this time he plans on digging up a part of the plant as he had always wanted. Only this time it merely to reattach the bloom rather than to bring 'home'. What is home but where he makes it, Jim will not linger calling that house home anymore if he is to be imprisoned here. This castle is to be his home and if it were not for the curse's taint on it, it would be the finest of gilded cages.

Jim also gets a warming-pan which he fills with embers from the kitchen, for its cooking surface has the only actual burning flame he knows of. The beast asks questions, confused by his actions, but does nothing to stop him or warn him off of it. On one hand, Jim wonders what more the curse could do to him if he were to take the plant than it already has, but on the other, he need only look at the beast's monstrous and shadowy appearance to know. 

While Jim had cleared out the entrance enough for the doors to open, he must trek through the rest of the path to the flowers. He tries to follow his own footsteps that had brought him in, but the wind has drifted the snow and done a remarkable job covering them back up. In a few days Jim assumes, it would have erased them all together. Like he had never been, had never passed here. 

He mustn't think on that as he works to get out the flower. Its color is just as strikingly beautiful as he remembers. While he hates the price he knows must pay, he easily understands how he was ensnarled. He may miss his old life and his friends, but at least he is not leaving behind a wife and children that depend upon him. And the beast, for all that he is demanding and aggressive, can also be kind and tender. No, there are far worse 'people' Jim could be trapped with. 

Carefully he uses the heated metal walls of the pan warmer to soften the soil for him to dig without burning the plant. It is slower work than he imagined but he- He's actually thrilled at the idea that this means when they reenter the beast will tend to him again. He darts a look over, the beast of course looks the same, long, dark shadows cloaking him and dripping down into the snow. For all that he appears a beast every time Jim reaches through the shadows to touch him he feels only a man, and he wonders if that man too will grow cold in the winter's wind. 

It gets harder as Jim gets deeper down because there isn't enough space for Jim to squeeze the pan warmer against the next bit of soil. "Could you-" the beast silences when Jim looks at him, although surely the gardener hopes his expression is nothing but encouraging. The shadows cling around its teeth as though in his hesitation to think, he is trying to hide them. 

"Could I what?" Jim asks in a genuine tone.

"Maybe put the shovel to the embers?"

"Oh."

"It's stupid I know-" Jim reaches out to where the beast seems to be curling into himself. Even with the cooking, the beast didn't seem so... self-deprecating about their own lack of knowledge or talents. Not to mention Jim thinks this idea will work. How strange from a proud and boastful creature that seems so determined to yell at him. 

"It could very well work, and thank you for suggesting it regardless." The beast seems to uncurl in his hold, almost pressing back up against him like a house cat. He's warm, very warm even though Jim's layers. The heat makes him feel the cold all the more starkly and he desperately wants to finish here as to be back in the beast's embrace. With this work, it is perhaps more than his hands that will be cold. 

Slowly Jim shifts from the beast only enough to get back to work, the strategy working acceptably although Jim must be careful not to freeze the embers and extinguish them. The effort from the labour helps warm his core but does nothing for the rest of him. For once Jim welcomes the cold and soon he has the stalks, including the one he so thoughtlessly beheaded yesterday.

He lumbers back into the castle, and is happy to close the door behind himself, finally out of the cold. He shivers openly and is pleased when this causes the beast to fuse as is expected. "Oh, you didn't even get gloves before you went back out, and the rest of you, there's no way you are warm enough in this."

"That's alright because you'll warm me back up, right?" Jim looks at him, openly and honestly. He wants to be clear in his intention, that he wants to be close to him. The cold is just the slightest of pretense.

The beast understands and seems to be pleased as his teeth shine in the dim interior light. "My garden has far more than this sole plant and in the other seasons you are sure to see it and love it, but what will I be able to offer you then when the sun alone will keep you warm?"

Jim looks down at the plant he has just brought back first, their purple has turned black again in the firelight. And then up at the beast whose eyes are brown again. "Yourself."

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe there might be a second chapter
> 
> That 'throw' away line near the beginning is true. We have a museum in town that has all the roman artifacts of the city and surrounding area. My grandfather knows where they got the very large (and I would argue most impressive of the collection) mosaic flooring. It's a farmer that has a lot of lands and has many 'odd' and 'unnaturally' flattened patches of land. When he went to dig one up because he was building a shed, he found it, called the museum ppl and they excavated it. They never came back for the other flattened patches of land right next to it.


End file.
